Home Blog Page 3471

Why Biden Has Decided to Lift Veil of Secrecy on 9/11 Inquiry Papers 20 Years After Tragedy

The US Justice Department is expected to release several batches of documents related to the 9/11 terror attacks in the next six months. The first batch is due to be declassified no later than 11 September 2021. Here we examine what has prompted the Biden administration’s move.

As the 20th anniversary of 9/11 looms, President Joe Biden signed an executive order on 3 September directing the Department of Justice to declassify the inquiry documents into the terror attacks. According to the president, “information collected and generated in the US government’s investigation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks should now be disclosed, except when the strongest possible reasons counsel otherwise.”

Last month, some families of 9/11 victims urged Biden not to attend any memorial events on 11 September this year unless his administration agreed to publicise documents related to the hijackers – 19 men associated with al-Qaeda,* 15 of whom were Saudi Arabian nationals. In July 2021, the 9/11 families sued Saudi Arabia for money, alleging that the country’s officials could be complicit in the tragedy. Riyadh resolutely denies official involvement, and the 9/11 Commission also found no connection between the terror attack and the Saudi government.

Biden Needs to Divert Public Attention

“The timing for the release of the classified documents may be related to the Biden administration’s need to justify the withdrawal from Afghanistan following [Donald] Trump’s decision,” says Dr Luciano Zaccara, an assistant professor and research coordinator at the Gulf Studies Center at Qatar University.

Biden’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan caused his approval rating to plummet. Polling by FiveThirtyEight statistics-pooling website, shows that 48.4 percent of American respondents disapprove of the president’s performance in office with his approval rating hovering around 45.9 percent. According to the Washington Examiner, these figures have prompted growing concerns among Democrats who are nearly a year out from 2022 mid-term elections in which they will struggle to maintain their congressional majorities.

“The criticism [Biden] received from inside the country related to the lack of US accomplishments during the past 20 years of occupation focused on the human cost, mainly in American lives, that the occupation represented, demanded such a measure to demonstrate the actions in Afghanistan accomplished the objective of punishing those who were behind the attacks,” notes Zaccara.

Under these circumstances, the Biden administration is seeking to set a new foreign policy doctrine of the US regarding the whole Middle East which prioritises its own security concerns over other third countries, the academic highlights. Thus, the long-anticipated release of 9/11 documents could divert public attention from the botched withdrawal of Afghanistan and help identify new priorities, according to the professor.

Biden Risks Damaging Relations With MBS, Again

At the same time, some observers suggest that the documents might cast doubt over Saudi elites, given that most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi Arabian nationals. If the forthcoming release contains any material of that kind, “this may certainly erode relations” between Biden and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Zaccara suggests.

“We are seeing a greater reluctance by the Biden administration to ‘protect’ America’s Saudi allies from the release of potentially damaging information regarding the extent of Saudi involvement and subsequent cover-up by both the Saudis and by the Bush administration,” echoes Dr Mehran Kamrava, director of the Center for International and Regional Studies and professor of Government at Georgetown University Qatar.

Previously, the Biden administration criticised the crown prince, suggesting that he could be involved in the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. On 26 February, the Biden administration released an intelligence report “linking” the crown prince with the incident but providing no evidence to back the claims. Some media suggested at the time that Biden’s White House was seeking to “sideline” the powerful prince, known for his sympathy with former president Donald Trump.

Release of the documents related to the Saudi nationals’ involvement in 9/11 is “20 years overdue”, says Peter Kuznick, professor of History in American University, Washington, DC. According to Kuznick, “this lack of transparency is sometimes simply to avoid embarrassment and sometimes because of geopolitical calculations.” Under George W Bush, the US was dependent on Middle Eastern hydrocarbons and tried not to infuriate its allies.

“As Gulf oil diminishes in importance in US foreign policy thinking, the US has been trying to extricate itself to some degree from the region, which is good,” the professor notes. “Unfortunately, Biden and the blob think this will free them to confront more aggressively the real antagonists – Russia and China – which is in no one’s interest at a time when collaboration is needed on so many fundamental global issues.”

Docs May Expose US Complicity in ‘Creating’ Jihadi Criminals

At the same time, however, the documents may also shed some light on the US Cold-War era collaboration with jihadists, Kuznick says. He points out that the US used to train, arm, and finance Afghan Mujahideen in the late Seventies and Eighties in order to use them as Cold War proxies against the USSR. “Those insurgents included Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders as well as many of the Taliban*,” according to the academic. Washington has long abstained from releasing 9/11 documents apparently because “it could have exposed the US complicity in creating the criminals who hit this country on 9/11,” Kuznick suggests.

Meanwhile, on 3 September, CBS released an interview with Danny Gonzalez, a former FBI agent who participated in Operation Encore, the still-secret investigation into the two Saudi hijackers who were based in San Diego. Gonzalez told CBS News that “19 hijackers [could not] commit 3,000 mass murders by themselves,” suggesting that they had a US-based support network. According to him, two of the culprits attended flight training in Arizona before the attack.

It is still unclear whether the release would become a bombshell or whether “the government machinery [would] slow the process, provide excuses and redact documents so heavily that they are meaningless,” says Bruce Eagleson, the son of a 9/11 victim who suggested in his September op-ed that “the first test” would be 11 September 2021 when the batch of files is due to be released.

Taiwan says China entered air defence zone for third straight day

(UPI) The Taiwan air force said Monday that more than a dozen Chinese fighter jets, four bombers and one surveillance craft intruded in Taiwan’s air defense zone.

Taiwan responded to the intrusion Sunday by tracking the craft with land-based missiles, scrambling fighter jets and broadcasting radio warnings. Sunday was the third straight day the Chinese air force dispatched two or more aircraft to the zone, according to Taiwan News.

Taiwan military fears the fleet could include aircraft designed for electronic warfare.

China has regarded Taiwan as a breakaway province but Taipei sees itself as a sovereign state. For more than a year, Taipei has expressed outrage over repeated missions by the Chinese air force near the island.

The zone is self-declared by Taiwan but remains international air space. An air defense identification zone is outside of a country’s national airspace but where foreign aircraft are still identified, monitored and controlled.

China has not responded.

Pregnant California Woman Stranded In Afghanistan Says Taliban Are “Hunting Americans”

A 25 year old woman from California has spoken out about living in Taliban-led Afghanistan, where many Americans remain unable to leave. The woman, who identified herself only as Nasria, recounted how she traveled to Kabul in June to visit family and marry her boyfriend.

“There’s been days, you know, where I think to myself, ‘Am I going to make it home? Am I going to end up living here? Am I going to end up dying here?” Nasria told Voice of America, refusing to share her last name for security reasons. She lamented that upon the final U.S. withdrawal on August 31, Taliban terrorists began “hunting Americans” who were left on the ground.

“Apparently, they’re going door to door now trying to see if anyone has a blue passport,” Nasria shared. She also shared how she and her husband, as newlywed couple fled to the Kabul airport when the Afghan government fell and the Taliban took over, but they failed to make it inside the airport.

“It was so hard to just get on a flight. There was a couple days where we had to sleep on streets. People were literally stepping over people. That’s how bad it was,” Nasria recalled. Breitbart reported that she then contacted the U.S. State Department, which officials told her to proceed to a designated area where she and her husband would be escorted onto an evacuation flight. However, the Taliban forbade them to go.

“Our troops were literally at the gate just waiting for us to continue walking and they had blocked us,” the pregnant California woman said. Nasria added that Taliban fighters prevented her from going to the airport despite seeing her passport. She recounted how she started walking towards the airport and one of the Taliban forces shot right by her leg, ordering her to return or they would shoot her.

“That’s how it was and I’ve never in my life have ever experienced anything like this,” Nasria lamented. Her husband even asked the Taliban to let her escape on her own, but she refused to leave without him.

According to Fox News, Republican Representative Darrell Issa of California was sounding the alarm on how Nasria and other Americans who were stranded in Afghanistan are experiencing persecution and abuse. Rep. Issa said during an appearance on Fox News that Nasriia had been kicked in the stomach by Taliban fighters.

Rep. Issa insisted that “anyone who says there aren’t people stranded is wrong.” He added that the Taliban continues to use Americans and its allies as “hostage.” He said that the U.S. State Department “cleared these flights and the Taliban will not let them leave the airport.”

Up to 1,000 people, including Americans and Afghans who hold U.S. visas or visas to other countries remain stranded in Afghanistan, the New York Times reported. The U.S. State Department admitted on Sunday that they no longer have “personnel on the ground…air assets in the country”and that the U.S. “do not control the airspace – whether over Afghanistan or elsewhere in the region,” making it more difficult to arrange a safe exit for those who remain.

Authoritarianism Pandemic is the Real Threat: Ron Paul

Outbreak of judicial tyranny is a symptom of the authoritarianism pandemic that is the real threat to America.

Cook County, Illinois, Judge James Shapiro reached a new low in covid tyranny by forbidding Rebecca Firlit from seeing her 11-year-old son until she receives a covid vaccine. Judge Shapiro is not alone in abusing judicial power to force individuals to get vaccinated. Judges across the country have ordered defendants to get covid vaccines, sometimes as a condition of avoiding prison. This outbreak of judicial tyranny is a symptom of the authoritarianism pandemic that is the real threat to America.

Corporations are imposing requirements, including that employees show proof of vaccination, pay more for health insurance if they have not had a covid vaccine, and undergo regular (in some cases weekly) covid tests. An increasing number of state and local governments are requiring their employees and even people working in some private jobs to take covid vaccines, as well as imposing vaccine passport requirements on people generally.

President Biden has urged employers to implement vaccine mandates, and government is working with its big tech allies to develop “model” vaccine passports.

Government approved model vaccine requirements combined with government officials encouraging their adoption send the message to businesses that imposing vaccine requirements on their employees, and maybe their customers as well, is a good way to stay in the politicians and bureaucrats’ good graces.

An effective way for the US government to “encourage” adoption of vaccine mandates and vaccine passports is denying federal funds to businesses, states, local governments, and other institutions that refuse to require employees, customers, or other people to prove they are vaccinated. This will result in vaccine requirements while enabling government to claim it is not forcing vaccines on anyone.

President Biden is already planning for the US government denying Medicare and Medicaid funding to nursing homes that do not require their employees to prove they are vaccinated. This could result in staff shortages at nursing homes. A short-staffed nursing home poses a much greater risk to residents than a nursing home with a staff comprised of healthy, unvaccinated individuals. Texas is experiencing a nursing shortage thanks in part to hospitals firing unvaccinated nurses.

Health care workers have good reason to resist vaccine mandates. Many individuals have died or suffered other adverse effects — including miscarriages — after receiving a vaccine.

Some people try to justify vaccine mandates and vaccine passports by saying that, by risking infecting others, unvaccinated individuals endanger other people. However, the federal Centers for Disease Control recently admitted that covid vaccines do not prevent the spread of infections. In addition, the claim that we are having a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” relies on data collected from early in the year — before many Americans had taken covid vaccines.

An important objection is that, if government can force people to take a potentially dangerous vaccine to protect against a hypothetical harm to others, the same reasoning would support the imposing of many additional liberty violations. These could include, for example, “red flag” laws and other forms of gun control, restrictions on access to “extremist” ideas, or a system of mass surveillance to prevent possible future acts of violence. The argument that government can use force to prevent hypothetical harms renders restraint on government power meaningless.

It is imperative that we support the growing resistance to vaccine mandates and vaccine passports. We must also expand the resistance to covid authoritarianism to resistance to all forms of government infringements on liberty.

More than 7 million people lose unemployment benefits on Labor Day

More than 7 million unemployed people will lose their jobless benefits on Monday after federal programs expire, according to the Washington Post.

Why it matters: The expiration of benefits comes as the Delta variant continues to weigh on the U.S. economy.

By the numbers: The U.S. added only around 235,000 jobs last month, according to the latest job’s report.

  • It was significantly fewer than economists expected and the smallest increase since January.

The big picture: The Century Foundation estimated last month that 7.5 million workers receiving two federal unemployment assistance programs will cut off from aid.

  • It also determined that the cutoff will disproportionately affect people of color and women.

Ivermectin Hit Piece Debunked After Hospital Steps Forward with the Truth

When an Oklahoma doctor told the media horror stories about hospitals jammed with patients who self-medicated themselves with ivermectin right into the emergency room, it was a hit.

Rolling Stone ran with choice bits of the story, which appears to have originated with Oklahoma TV station KFOR-TV.

“The ERs are so backed up that gunshot victims were having hard times getting to facilities where they can get definitive care and be treated,” Dr. Jason McElyea said.

But the bombshell report soon went bust. The doctor who offered a graphic depiction of chaos had not been on the job for a while, and the hospital where he worked said there was no truth to the claim that ivermectin patients were crowding out everyone else.

“Although Dr. Jason McElyea is not an employee of NHS Sequoyah, he is affiliated with a medical staffing group that provides coverage for our emergency room. With that said, Dr. McElyea has not worked at our Sallisaw location in over 2 months,” read the statement from  Northeastern Hospital System Sequoyah.

“NHS Sequoyah has not treated any patients due to complications related to taking ivermectin. This includes not treating any patients for ivermectin overdose,” the statement read.

“All patients who have visited our emergency room have received medical attention as appropriate. Our hospital has not had to turn away any patients seeking emergency care.”

“We want to reassure our community that our staff is working hard to provide quality healthcare to all patients. We appreciate the opportunity to clarify this issue and as always, we value our community’s support,” the statement concluded.

McElyea had painted those taking ivermectin as farmers who figured they could take the medicine they gave their animals.

“Growing up in a small town, rural area, we’ve all accidentally been exposed to ivermectin at some time. So, it’s something people are familiar with. Because of those accidental sticks, when trying to inoculate cattle, they’re less afraid of it,” he said, according to KFOR.

He claimed ambulances were paralyzed with the load of ivermectin cases.

“All of their ambulances are stuck at the hospital waiting for a bed to open so they can take the patient in and they don’t have any, that’s it,” said McElyea. “If there’s no ambulance to take the call, there’s no ambulance to come to the call.”

McElyea said only doctors should decide what medicines anyone should take.

“You have to ask yourself, ‘If I take this medicine, what am I going to do if something bad happens?’ What’s your next step, what’s your backup plan?” the doctor said.

“If you’re going to take a medicine that could affect your health, do it with a doctor on board. Make those decisions with a thoroughly vetted opinion. There’s a lot of schooling that goes into that. It’s not just something you look on the internet for and decide if it’s the right dose.”

The Food and Drug Administration has cautioned against taking the animal dewormer as a treatment for COVID-19. Podcaster Joe Rogan recently listed ivermectin as one of the drugs he took when he tested positive for the virus. He has since said he has tested negative.

Brazil Suspends 12 Million Doses of China’s Sinovac Vaccine

The Brazilian health regulator suspended the use of over 12 million doses of Chinese-made vaccines on Sept. 4 over being produced in an unauthorized plant, according to an official statement.

Authorities said the ban was “a precautionary measure” to prevent “possible imminent risk.”

“The manufacturing unit … was not inspected and was not approved by Anvisa in the authorization of emergency use of the mentioned vaccine,” the country’s federal health regulator Anvisa said on Saturday.

A day previously, Sao Paulo’s Butantan Institute, a local biomedical center founded by the state government, sent an alert to Anvisa. The institution was to fill and finalize 25 batches of 12.1 million doses upon their arrival in Brazil, under a partnership with China’s Sinovac.

Another 17 batches, totaling 9 million doses produced in the same plant, were on their way to Brazil, Butantan told the regulator.

The regulator has now issued a 90-day ban and is investigating the plant and the manufacturing process.

Brazil launched its vaccine rollout earlier this year with the vast majority of administered vaccines from Sinovac. More shots from other manufacturers have since come online.

Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said on Aug. 25 that people aged 70 or older or who have a weak immune system will be eligible for a third dose, starting Sept. 15—preferably with the Pfizer vaccine.

Diana dos Santos, 71, received two shots of the Sinovac vaccine but now refuses to leave home until she gets her booster.

“I can’t go out like before and I’m still afraid of all of this,” Santos told The Associated Press. “I will feel safer [with a booster].”

Chinese officials have maintained the vaccine protects against the Delta variant, particularly preventing hospitalizations and severe cases.

Brazil has reported over 580,000 deaths from the virus, but the country has seen a fall in both death rate and active cases in the past two months.

Trump Was Right: Taliban Now Holding Hostage Six Planes Full Of Americans

“They’re going to demand more and more, whether it be cash or legitimacy as the government of Afghanistan.”

As news emerged Sunday that the Taliban is effectively holding hostage six planes full of Americans, many pointed out that President Trump predicated that exactly this situation would unfold.

CBS News reported that congressional and NGO sources, say “multiple planes that are ready to take American citizens and green card holders out of the country are being denied permission to leave by the Taliban.”

The report notes that a State Department email confirms that the flights have permission to land in Qatar “if and when the Taliban agrees to takeoff.”

“The Taliban is basically holding them hostage to get more out of the Americans,” CBS quotes a senior congressional source.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the ranking GOP member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also told Fox News Sunday that the Taliban has initiated a hostage situation.

“We have six airplanes at Mazar Sharif Airport, six airplanes with American citizens on them as I speak, also with these interpreters, and the Taliban is holding them hostage for demands right now,” McCaul said.

“They’re going to demand more and more, whether it be cash or legitimacy as the government of Afghanistan,” McCaul added.

Watch:

Meanwhile, more details have emerged of the Biden State Department reportedly blocking the private flights with Americans on board from leaving Afghanistan, purely to save face because they were unable to get them all out.

One source deeply involved with the evacuation efforts told Fox News “This is zero place to be negotiating with American lives. Those are our people standing on the tarmac and all it takes is a f****ing phone call.”

“If one life is lost as a result of this, the blood is on the White House’s hands. The blood is on their hands,” the source further noted, adding: “It is not the Taliban that is holding this up – as much as it sickens me to say that – it is the United States government.” 

Do American Christians Actually Have Biblical Beliefs? Barna’s ‘Revealing’ Findings

New data from George Barna reveals that while 69% of American adults identify as “Christian,” only six percent actually have a biblical worldview. These findings, says Barna, show that Americans are not taking obedience to Jesus seriously—and the research should also lead us to be cautious when interpreting political data.

“Too often,” says George Barna, “it seems, people who are simply religious, or regular churchgoers, or perhaps people who want a certain reputation or image embrace the label ‘Christian,’ regardless of their spiritual life and intentions. ’Christian’ has become somewhat of a generic term rather than a name that reflects a deep commitment to passionately pursuing and being like Jesus Christ.” 

George Barna’s Findings on American Christians

George Barna is the lead researcher at the Cultural Research Center (CRC) at Arizona Christian University. This report,  the latest in CRC’s American Worldview Inventory 2021, was released Aug. 31 and categorizes people into five groups:

-Self-identified Christians
-Self-identified born-again Christians
-Self-identified evangelical Christians
-Theologically born-again Christians
-Integrated disciples

“The differences in the belief and behavioral profiles of these groups are revealing,” says Barna, noting that the first striking aspect of the research is the “dramatic range” of beliefs that can fall under the label “Christian.”  

Sixty-nine percent of American adults, or 176 million people, fall into the first group, which is simply Americans who identify as “Christians.” However, only nine percent of the people in this group actually have a biblical worldview. 

People who call themselves Christians have a number of beliefs consistent with the Bible’s teachings, including God created the world and rules over it, God cares about our moral choices, and God gives people unique callings. However, self-identified Christians also have a number of beliefs that are inconsistent with the Bible’s teachings. Some of these are that all religions are equal, the Holy Spirit is not a personal being, and people can earn their way to heaven by being good. 

Ron Paul Classic: ‘Freedom Is a Young Idea and We’re Throwing It Away’

1...3,4703,4713,472...3,950Page 3,471 of 3,950
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2025 American Faith Media Network. All rights reserved.